Caribbean Air

[Glen O]

Hi
We want to book with Caribbean Air out of Toronto to Trinidad (and then on to Tobago). Anything I should know about before I do???

Thanks.
Glen

[Roger D.]

Hi Glen - No, you should not have any problems. They have been running in the 90% + ontime for arrivals/departures with good onboard service unlike it's predecessor, BWIA. Please ensure that your onward tickets to Tobago gives you enough time to transfer to and from the airbridge on each leg of your trip. Hope you have a GREAT and relaxing holiday.

Roger

[Clyde Alleyne]

Glen, there are two very important bits of information you omitted (1) what time does your flight arrive in Trinidad and (2) when do you actually arrive?

If your flight arrives at night, you might have a problem clearing immigration and customs in time to catch a flight to Tobago - many international travellers have had to overnight and catch their Tobago flight the next morning because of this. Depending on the arrival time and how many other flights have landed just ahead of you, it can take over two hours to get out of customs. You need to check in for the Tobago flight at least 1 hour before departure, with 30 minutes before departure the "you've missed your flight" deadline. 30 minutes before each flight's scheduled departure, the flight is closed and they start taking standby passengers in wait-list order.

Flights to and from Tobago are often heavily booked, so the sooner you can make your Tobago flight reservations the better - we are entering the summer vacation period so especially on Friday afternoons it can be difficult to get a Tobago booking unless you request well ahead of time (I'd suggest two weeks minimum). Many locals are resigned to not being able to get confirmed seats if they are travelling at short notice and simply go to the airport hoping to go via standby.

Hope this helps.

Clyde

[Glen O]

Hi. Thanks for the replies.
Roger, thanks for the well wishes. We're staying on the beach in Castara so I know we'll have a great time.
Clyde. I didn't mention that we are travelling in Feb. '09. Just like to get all our ducks in a row early. It's an overnight flight from Toronto so arrive early in the am in Togabo. We're meeting another couple there, who are travelling Air Canada, and then off to Tobago. We'll pick a departure time from Trinidad that will leave us lots of time to make the flight.
Any other bits of advice you might have for us?

Glen

[Clyde Alleyne]

Glen, as you are not travelling til Feb 09, you have lots of time to make sure that you have a confirmed flight to Tobago via Caribbean Airlines. You can book online on the CAL website as much as a year in advance and pay for your ticket via credit card. Just give yourself extra time between flights - international flights have been known to run late, and if any other aircraft lands ahead of you, then the immigration and customs lines can be loooong! If you still miss your Tobago flight, all Caribbean Airlines can do is to add your name to their waitlist and if it happens to be a busy morning, it can be several hours before you can get over...

On the other hand, if you clear immigrations and customs much earlier than planned, then you should still present yourself at the standby counter and ask if you can get on an earlier flight. You might get lucky!
Clyde

[Roger D.]

Glen: I'm sure that you've read all the wonderful posts and seen the fantastic photos of Castara - You will have great time. BTW, watch out for those Rum Punches...

[Glen O]

Hi Roger
Yes, we've been gleaning all we can about Tobago and Castara. I'm sure the enthusiam will be put on the back burner soon and we'll fire it up again in the winter. We are sure looking forward to touring the island and going to all the great snorkeling sites we're read about. We will definitely be looking for some serious R&R which is why we picked Castara in the first place. Thanks for your replies.

Glen